KALEB: Got my big, fat bear rounds here.
220 grains of gristle and bone smashing lead.
I'm about to face down one of North America's most dangerous predators, bears.
And if I'm not also a dangerous predator I have no business being out there.
My goal is to be at the top of the food chain and to stay there.
(gunshot)
KALEB: This is lookin' really good.
I'm on my way out to the bear hunting grounds.
Just fired off a test shot and the bullet went where I told it to.
For me, hunting is not about a trophy.
I do not care about horn size, hide size,
it's about food for my family.
Hunting black bears in the springtime is an important source of food for our family.
Black bear is the only species of food animal that's open in the springtime.
This area here is my stomping ground as a kid.
The Nizina River is my favorite spring bear hunting grounds.
This late spring is causing the game to stay holed-up in the woods later than normal,
which has been really weird for me.
I'm used to seeing bears this time of year and to date, I've only seen one.
It's time to go hunting.
Going out bear hunting is like walking into the lion's den.
I haven't always had a rosy past with bear hunting,
I've been charged by grizzlies twice,
once was a mama with a cub and my gun went click.
When your gun goes click and you're staring down the barrel at a very angry mama bear,
priorities get shifted really fast.
CHEVIE: You're out here, you stay out here mentally until you get home.
It helps protect you and helps keep you safe
because you never know what's gonna happen.
(animal call)
CHEVIE: Everything's just getting up right now.
You know, you know what papa would say?
SYDNEY: What?
CHEVIE: Know what papa would say?
SYDNEY: What?
CHEVIE: He'd say, he'd say catch, catch 'em, catch 'em with sleep in their eyes,
they're not quite so fast.
These aren't that long so don't throw them that far because then they'll,
they'll float out into the river
and we don't wanna have to go get 'em, 'cause they won't touch bottom.
Okay?
They gotta be right along the edge.
You hear me? What'd I say?
CHEVIE: Okay, here.
Springtime's kind of an important time to me, a fun time.
It's kinda the last hunt of the winter before everything starts nesting and getting
into summertime where we don't hunt a whole bunch,
so I just felt like this was the right time
for Sydney to get out and hunt ducks and geese.
SYDNEY: Right there. CHEVIE: Huh?
Yeah, that's good, see how it's not moving?
My goal with Sydney is to teach her and instill confidence in her.
So she can safely start handling a firearm.
And for her to be able to be okay with taking the life of an animal providing food for us.
Okay. I'm gonna, so I put one in the chamber, okay?
So it's ready to go, all you have to do is go like that, okay?
So just set it over there.
Take off your earmuffs.
Why do you keep those things on?
You just don't like listening to me talk or what?
CHEVIE: You gotta put 'em up though so you can hear what's going on around you.
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: Shoot at the white one in the middle.
Get the gun up against your shoulder,
just about your practice.
Work on your breathing.
Take your time, if you don't have a good shot just wait, baby.
Shoot, shoot.
Set it back over there, they'll come back.
Sit down.
Ooh, right behind it.
That was a good shot.
You're right in it, it doesn't matter if you get one or not.
CHEVIE: You almost got that one.
Well, you're gonna get one eventually.
Good practice.
CHRIS: That's one of the like benefits of living off the grid,
and living out here.
There's no one around to, like, point out your mistakes.
You just gotta learn from them.
And as long as we just keep learning from our mistakes,
we'll be able to stay out here longer and longer.
How's that lookin'?
Better?
JESSI: I was just thinking about how large we're gonna want this thing?
CHRIS: Oh, six or seven feet long?
JESSI: That's what I was thinking, right?
CHRIS: The first winter out on the Cosna I pretty much had no veggies,
it was all beans and rice.
All dried foods.
When you're only eating what you can grow and catch,
having a little garden's really helpful.
So this year we're gonna build ourselves an automated garden
that's gonna actually water itself.
In hopes that we're gonna have a nice, full garden.
That'll make fall time a lot easier on us.
What I was thinking is we got these old rain gutters that are made out of black pipe?
We can kind of turn this into like, an aqueduct system.
I was thinking maybe have a rain barrel up here where it's higher?
And then the rain barrel would feed into another gutter that
would run down to where the flower box is.
We can have our potatoes and carrots and lettuce,
and the aqueduct system would actually water it all summer.
JESSI: Well, I think that it's gonna be a lot of work but it's gonna be worth it.
A full garden that's ready to harvest?
It would be.
CHRIS: That would be awesome.
JESSI: That'll be really important to have out here.
CHRIS: Well, I'll go get the chainsaw mill and I'll meet you around front if you want to load
that four-foot half cut log up onto the uh milling table we'll start milling it down.
JESSI: I'll cut up the wood, you get the chainsaw.
(saw whirring)
You got all four pieces?
CHRIS: Yep. JESSI: Fantastic. CHRIS: Cool.
JESSI: Head over to the front of the house.
CHRIS: Yeah, these'll probably go to the outside like that.
JESSI: Yeah.
I think this should be big enough for lettuce, bok choy, carrots, and potatoes.
CHRIS: Absolutely.
Perfect, there's your box.
JESSI: Lot of veggies for us to come back to.
Great, so I think now is going to be the hardest part.
CHRIS: Making dirt.
JESSI: A lot of dirt.
JOHNNY: No matter where I've lived, I've always faced challenges.
Challenges that nature throws at me are challenges that I want to take on.
JOHNNY: We'll get you some cod, Java.
You don't worry.
Just gonna head up here, it's a little bit calmer, and do some fishing.
'Cause I don't need to be in the little rough parts right here.
It's just not worth it.
But getting to the other side of the bay is a challenging feat in itself.
Gets really choppy, it gets pretty dangerous in the middle of the day.
Once I get across, I got a sweet little fishing hole.
I do pretty well there, I catch a lot of fish but the time is ticking.
Every day in the middle of the day, that swell picks up.
Made it across the gauntlet, sweet!
The only problem is the water's a little bit rougher so we have to pay attention
to the water but also catch some fish.
I start having too much fun fishing and my head's down,
and then I look up and there's all this swell going on and
it will swamp my boat 'cause that swell comes in fast.
So the goal is to catch a bunch of cod and the cod are going to feed Java.
You know, I consider myself a subsistence hunter, gatherer,
and Java's kinda more of a subsistence freeloader but
it's all good because she keeps me company while I'm doing all this
stuff out here.
I eat a subsistence diet, I don't buy any meat whatsoever
and there's no reason why my dog can't live that same life.
Going across the bay to catch fish, it's just an errand.
This is me running errands.
You learn to be creative, and catch fish!
There we go, got one on!
Yeah, baby.
This one's got a little more fight.
See what we got.
Oh, Irish lord.
I don't keep the Irish lords.
And if I don't keep fish I don't bring 'em out of the water.
I try to keep 'em in as much as possible,
but you don't want to get pricked by their little fins
and such because you can get a pretty nasty infection.
And down he goes.
Don't bring 'em out of the water because what's the point?
You know I want the fish to live.
You're like a person, sitting there.
Oh, there we go.
That's a fish.
Come on, baby.
What do we got?
Ah, another Irish lord.
Calm down, calm down.
I don't want to be pricked by you.
If I'm catching two of the Irish lords in this area then that means
it's not the place I wanna be.
Move on.
Yeah, this is what it is to live the subsistence life.
You know, it's adventurous, it's fun, it's a way to get out and see the world,
see life through a different set of lenses.
Ooh, that's a big swell.
I'm drifting hard.
I'm gonna put my boat underwater.
I'm drifting pretty hard,
and I'm just catching fish that I'm not trying to catch so.
The water's channeling between this big rock here and this point right here,
and it's a tight little squeeze so the water flowing in between them is creating more of a wake,
creating bigger swell and I can't fish in something like this,
because it's just a little too bumpy.
It's just not worth it.
You know, nature doesn't care if I'm catching fish or not,
so sometimes I'm out here and the waves pick up and I gotta go.
We'll get you some cod, Java.
You don't worry.
CHEVIE: Going out, being on the land, being opportunists.
It's really hard.
There's a lot to it.
You gotta be ready to be able to rise to that occasion and perform and to not crumble.
CHEVIE: If that was a beaver this morning and you were that close to a beaver.
And that duck, when you shot at that duck you would have,
you would have hit, you would have hit that beaver.
That was a beaver killing shot, right there.
But that was such, that was just a little pocket duck you were shooting at.
No matter what you just can't let your confidence get shaken.
All right, let's do it, let's try to get some, let's try to get some ducks.
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: There's a lot of tools and a lot of positive things that come out of being
in the forest or being on the land.
I just wanted her to actually kill an animal, to take that first shot,
get a taste of subsistence lifestyle and focus on her and her development.
All right, we got some, usually,
we got some ducks that are right here sittin' around the corner,
let's be ready for 'em okay?
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: We'll just kinda go slow and see if we see some ducks back in the trees.
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: Do you want me to shoot at the ones that fly or you want me to let them go?
SYDNEY: Um, I think you shoot at the ones that fly because I'm not very
good at flying things.
CHEVIE: Okay.
Okay, right out your side right here there's one little pocket duck swimmin'.
I'll tell you where it's at, okay?
You see it? It's right on the other side of this log, it's almost to the bank.
SYDNEY: Here? Dang it. CHEVIE: That's okay.
SYDNEY: Oh, really.
CHEVIE: Animals gotta win, win, win sometimes, too, and get away sometimes
and that's, that's fine.
That's just the way it is.
Should we go to the next spot?
All right, Sydney I see quite a few ducks right up here still so,
be ready with your .22.
Stay down. Stay down.
(gunshot)
SYDNEY: Flew away?
CHEVIE: It's right here on the bank.
Get it, Thor.
I just knocked one out of the air and then it was right here on the bank,
just winged it.
It was a big mallard.
SYDNEY: Wait.
What, what do you mean you knocked it out of the air Dad?
CHEVIE: And I don't know if it went back in the water or if it,
they'll get in the grass up here and they'll kinda, they'll kind of run around.
Okay.
SYDNEY: All the way over here?
CHEVIE: It ran up the bank, somewhere in here.
SYDNEY: Oh, maybe it flew away.
CHEVIE: It might've.
It was going pretty darn good.
SYDNEY: I have a feeling it's long gone by now.
CHEVIE: It might be.
SYDNEY: We just lost it.
CHEVIE: Could be in the water, we gotta look.
SYDNEY: We already did look.
CHEVIE: Day's not over yet though, okay?
SYDNEY: Uh-hmm.
CHEVIE: Been out quite a while,
getting a little bit tired and, uh,
knocked one duck out of the air and couldn't find it.
Sydney was kinda bummed out about it,
because we've been waiting to get a duck in the boat for a couple hours
this morning and it's really good for her little spirit to keep her excited
and boosted about what we're doing here.
So we gotta shoot some ducks and we gotta keep everybody happy.
KALEB: It is very important to train, to prepare, and be the most dangerous predator
in the woods when going out on a black bear hunt.
Otherwise, I won't survive.
I won't come home.
Big ol' wolf, two of 'em walked through here a day ago.
And I see old bear tracks in the mud.
So that's a good sign.
Bears are traveling through here.
This has been a very strange spring.
There are no bears out when they normally are.
I'm struggling to just see one bear.
I think I got one.
Yep, that black bear right there.
It's about 400 yards away right now.
And now, we've gotta close that gap a lot, getting up on that point.
I should have a nice clear line of sign right down into his vitals,
just need to get in brush, out of sight before he spooks.
We're on the hunt now, boys.
Wintertime is long and it's cold and there's not really any sources of meat
out here other than what we get in the fall.
And last fall we didn't do so hot during hunting season
so we are in desperate need of more meat.
He's down there.
Looking straight at me.
It's a cinnamon-faced black bear down there.
Nice looking, good-sized bear.
(gunshot)
KALEB: Bear is down!
He's still going a little bit.
(gunshot)
Unfortunately for whatever reason, uh my shot wasn't perfect,
and now I've gotta go finish the situation.
So we need to get down there before he runs too far,
and before his trail disappears.
For me, this is a horrendous situation,
one of which I am not proud of.
I keep in the back of my mind that I've got a dangerous
predator on the loose in front of me.
I am prepared at any given moment to face down a charging bear.
There's a lot of blood right there.
I got blood here, big running paw prints.
We're closing in on him, I hope to find him dead somewhere.
That's my goal.
Hold it.
I heard something go, whomp.
This is not good.
I'm going to wait 'till tomorrow because this bear might be,
uh, agitated, dangerous.
I heard him walking above me but not running,
not acting scared, just walking through the
woods like nothing ever happened.
And, uh, so I'm thinking it might be best
to just back out, come back, look tomorrow.
I am hearing this bear on the slopes above me.
This means the tables have turned.
This bear is hunting me, and I need to get out of this situation immediately.
JESSI: Cosna doesn't have bad days or good days.
It's just the Cosna.
It's me having the bad or good days.
All of that knowledge and the perseverance is what is going to
get us through all these obstacles.
JESSI: Nice. Move that over, maybe.
CHRIS: I think that this is some really good rot log right here.
Check this out.
JESSI: Whew, look how wet that is.
CHRIS: Yeah, I don't even think we'll have to pick that out.
It's just gonna come right on out.
This is gonna hold in the moisture really well to our garden box.
JESSI: Perfect base layer.
CHRIS: Yeah. It's exactly what we want.
JESSI: Ground here is very clay-like, and
that means it's not super conducive for root-growing vegetables.
CHRIS: You're running out of rot.
JESSI: Out of log up here.
So we're gonna have to go look around and find all of the ingredients.
CHRIS: All right.
JESSI: That it takes to make dirt.
It's like making a cake out here, but for my plants.
Okay.
CHRIS: And dump.
JESSI: Great. Wow. That worked fabulously.
All right, let's go, uh, get the rest of that
sod dirt and start mixing in some other stuff.
CHRIS: Perfect.
JESSI: The entire roof of this cabin used to be sod.
CHRIS: It's just chopping up so nice.
Look at that.
JESSI: Sod is a great insulating layer.
CHRIS: Nice.
JESSI: And there's a lot that's still laying on the backside of the house.
Really that does look pretty nice.
CHRIS: Yeah, feel it.
That is like, really good-looking dirt.
JESSI: Ooh. It's so fluffy.
CHRIS: I know because I'm just chopping it all up.
JESSI: This is way better than I thought it was going to be.
CHRIS: Lift your weight, Cletus.
Let's go.
JESSI: Let me grab the bottom, great and over.
CHRIS: Got the sand.
Maybe a little bit of ash, and then we can plant.
All right, this is looking really good.
All we gotta figure out next is how to get water back here.
JESSI: Yeah, I think that's gonna be quite the chore.
CHEVIE: You're not born with the instincts to survive in Alaska.
Those are learned.
You need to remain calm and you need to be prepared.
There's a lot of work that goes into being successful no matter what you're doing.
CHEVIE: I'm gonna throw this stick out there, okay?
And then while it's moving down the river I want you to try to
follow it with your shotgun and shoot it, okay?
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: Spread your legs out wide, there you go.
SYDNEY: I, I, I'm really not looking forward to this.
CHEVIE: You're okay.
(gunshot)
Whoa, good one!
SYDNEY: Was that a dead duck?
CHEVIE: Dead duck! SYDNEY: Yes, yes, yes.
CHEVIE: Could still just be my hunting partner and help grab birds if we get some
or whatever, you know?
SYDNEY: Okay. CHEVIE: All right.
I mean, let's pack our stuff up and head to the boat.
Sydney was practicing with the .22
and now that we're shooting some waterfowl she's stepped her game up to a
.410 which actually has a little bit of kick to it and it's a bigger gun.
It's a really big accomplishment for her to be able to start using some guns like this.
You're really starting to help a lot around the boat, aren't you?
SYDNEY: Uh-hmm. Okay.
CHEVIE: Now I'm excited about bringing you even more.
It's been a learning experience for the both of us.
I'm, I'm learning how to be a better teacher and patient,
and Sydney and I have just had a great time together.
So we're gonna give her one last try here before we go home.
So make sure you're looking around.
SYDNEY: Okay.
(gunshot)
SYDNEY: Hey, we got one!
CHEVIE: Okay, get your, get your net, or be ready to pick it up, okay Bean?
This one's all you.
Grab it, Sydney. Grab it.
SYDNEY: It's too far away.
Let's try again.
Not so fast.
I got it. I got it, Dad.
CHEVIE: Good grab!
(panting)
Okay, bring it in the boat.
SYDNEY: It's alive.
(gunshot)
SYDNEY: We got it.
You ran it over!
Is it alive?
CHEVIE: Yeah. It's alive. Grab it by the neck.
SYDNEY: Okay.
(gunshot)
SYDNEY: We got it.
No Thor, get.
CHEVIE: If I'm successful, Sydney's successful.
She's a team player.
The ultimate goal is to put animals into the boat,
and she was just as happy scooping them out of the water with the net,
and that being her part.
That was just as much of a success to her as maybe shooting a duck.
There's so many things that go along with being a good hunting partner
or being a partner when you're out.
And I feel like I, I have that with Sydney.
Good, Sydney? That feels good, huh?
SYDNEY: Yeah, way better. CHEVIE: Way better.
River girl. River girl.
JOHNNY: I'm not bringing food down from the Arctic.
When I get to a location, I find new resources.
And that's part of the subsistence lifestyle.
The resources move, and so do I.
JOHNNY: All right Java, you ready to catch some fish or what, dude?
We gotta do better than yesterday.
What do you think of this lure, Java?
Wanna give him some good luck?
I'll let you give it some good luck.
There we go.
See what we got going on here.
Here in south-central Alaska, I have oceans.
I have a lot of fishing to take advantage of.
This place is just very abundant with resources if you can find it.
Gotta keep a eye on the horizon,
make sure that the swells aren't getting too big,
but every day in the middle of the day that swell picks up.
Oh, that's a fish already.
Oh God, it's got some fight!
It pulling me in circles.
I'm gonna need a net for this one.
Halibut.
Hoo-hoo-hoo.
(Bleep).
Look at that.
You like that, Java?
Cool.
Got a halibut here.
That was pretty fast.
That was a nice, pleasant surprise.
Fishing for a cod for my dog and now I have food for myself.
Halibut's for me.
That's not for you, dude.
That's too good, huh?
You can have the head.
I think I got something.
Feelin' a little heavy.
Yep.
You interested in some salad, ma'am?
Yeah, I didn't think so, me either.
Looks like the tide's kind of shifting and the water looks like it
might get a little bit rougher,
which means it's time for me to bail.
I don't wanna push my luck out here,
so I'm gonna head back while I can before it gets too nasty.
I hope it's not too late in the season for cod.
I might be a little late.
KALEB: Heading out on hunts by myself helps me to be a more efficient hunter
because I can be quieter.
I can be a shadow in the woods, and it improves my odds of
bringing back my intended target dramatically.
KALEB: I shot a bear up on the slope above me here and made a less-than-ideal shot on it.
And now I need to track it through the woods,
need to get back to my last-known location,
and start tracking him through the brush and see if I can't find anything.
I don't know where this bear is.
It could be anywhere.
It could be hiding at the base of a tree,
waiting for me to walk by, and jump out and get me.
It's not okay to leave an animal to just suffer in the forest.
So, I'm going to do my absolute best to find this bear and harvest it.
To put it on my table, to eat it.
There are some tracks right there.
He's turned and he's going out towards the, towards the river.
And so, I have to be extremely tuned in to every little disturbance on the forest floor
that gives me a signal that something passed through here.
I will not stop trying until I find this bear.
Here's a soft track right here in this ant farm.
Ants have already pretty much destroyed with their work.
Here's a twig that the bear broke off.
It's a sign of his passing.
So, he went right through here.
Oh, I just spotted it.
KALEB: This bear died at the base of that tree right there.
I don't think he's moving, but he was going right here.
And he circled around,
and he was posted up at the base of that tree waiting for me to come by.
Makes me very glad that I backed out when I did.
'Cause he would have charged from 15 feet away and that would've been the end of me.
I'm gonna sneak up and make sure it's dead.
Bear is dead.
Wow, thank goodness I found it.
Nice little cinnamon bear.
Sorry bear to have caused you this pain.
My shot placement was not what it should have been.
I always intend when I pull the trigger for the animal to drop in its tracks.
You'll be good on my table though.
I'm very glad that I put in the work to find this bear and now it's time to butcher him,
skin him down, break him into quarters, throw him in my backpack.
This meat here represents a lot of hard work, a lot of effort went into this.
But I'm very thankful for this bear and the food that he
provides for my family for the summer.
While I love the process, I'm glad it's done.
There's nothing left now but to load up camp after I enjoy the fruits of my labor.
You are what you eat, so today I am a cinnamon bear.
Mm, this bear is amazing.
Tastes like a lot of hard work,
a lot of miles traveled, pounds carried,
and it's delicious.
I'm getting a quick snack here, and then pack up and head home to my family.
And, uh, turn this bear into burger and sausage, and other delicious things.
CHRIS: Generally speaking, it's a tough life out here.
It's hard to carve yourself a lifestyle.
You're just always moving forward and always learning from your mistakes.
CHRIS: I thought we'd gather up all this PVC pipe we got here.
JESSI: Yeah.
CHRIS: I tried making an old water system out of this.
It should work really good.
This is for the old water pump.
This is like a big one-way valve.
I think we can take this along with us.
JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: And then I figured we'll take like, uh, one of our old fuel drums,
and then we'll cut a hole in the top and make a rain barrel.
JESSI: Alright.
CHRIS: Do you think you can pick this up and I'll get the big drum?
JESSI: Yeah.
CHRIS: So, there's a couple ways that we get water out here, uh,
rain is like the best drinking water out here.
Uh, we got a really big roof that's, uh, pitched mostly one side.
Uh, so every time it rains for more than a few minutes,
we get about 50 gallons of rainwater.
If we can set up a rain-catching system,
uh, we'll be catching water all summer long and
we'll be able to water our garden.
So, I think the rain barrel should go right here,
and I'm just gonna end up like cutting a hole in it,
so when we make the rain gutters come down, they'll fall right into this.
JESSI: Great. CHRIS: Cool.
Let's start by cutting one of these in half.
Like that.
Let's test it out.
JESSI: Oh, yes.
CHRIS: Once we get it attached it'll all work better. Okay.
As the rain comes down and lands on our tin roof,
it drops into our double gutter system,
which drops into a sink,
which drops into our 55-gallon drum,
comes up on a solar power pump,
lands into our gravity-fed trough,
drops down a couple layers, pops over a half-pipe,
drops into a splitter which goes down two troughs into our garden,
and everything goes perfectly, we're gonna have a beautiful garden come fall time.
Nice and tight. Alright, let's drop it in.
JESSI: Perfect.
CHRIS: Well, you ready to try it out?
JESSI: Yeah, let's do it.
Let me put some water. Oh wait, I don't have to.
You're just gonna hit the pump.
That's right.
CHRIS: All we gotta do is hit this button and we're pretending to be the timer.
Power's up.
JESSI: Oh!
There it goes.
It's going down one trough, into the other.
CHRIS: All the way down.
Awesome. Works great.
Give me one of these.
JESSI: So, like everything works.
CHRIS: Yeah. JESSI: Like it, wow.
Morse homestead. Getting the garden put in.
CHRIS: An automated garden on the homestead.
Who woulda thought?
JESSI: So, all that's next is to put the garden in, right?
CHRIS: Oh, that's exciting.
JESSI: I know I'm gonna go get my little planties and my little seeds,
and we're gonna fill up the garden, right?
CHRIS: That's it. JESSI: Awesome.
This is my favorite part.
JOHNNY: It's not an easy lifestyle.
Nature's doing its thing with or without me.
And I intentionally subject myself to these challenges,
to these hardships, because that's what I enjoy.
It's a damn-fine day for fishing, we'll find you some fish, Java.
The weather's nice.
It's nice and calm.
There's no swell.
And this is a day I can take advantage of fishing,
and I gotta figure out where the schools of cod are.
You know, if I'm not catching fish,
if I'm not bringing food home for her then she'll be
stuck eating kibble.
But the more I catch, uh, the longer it's gonna feed her and, uh,
and that's just that much longer I can go without coming back out here
and dealing with crossing the bay.
Oh, man.
I'm feeling some fish down there.
This one's got some weight to it.
There we go.
Irish lord.
I don't keep 'em.
Calm down, buddy.
What do you think, Java?
I think it's time to give this spot a rest.
Don't you, girl?
I'm gonna migrate another 30 yards over to here, and I think that because
I'm close to those big rock cliffs,
you know I'm kind of looking for more of like a sandy, muddy bottom to catch cod,
so, so I'm going to putt up a little bit, get back to the fishing grounds.
Where those cod at, Java?
And this particular day, it's been a little bit slow.
I'm catching Irish lords but I'm not catching the cod.
Uh, but that's okay, you just keep trying, keep at it, and, uh,
persistence will pay off.
Let's see what we got going on here.
Yeah, baby.
That's a fish on, baby.
Come on, be a cod. Be a cod.
We're about to find out Java if you're gonna be eatin'
or I'm gonna be sending an Irish lord back down.
JOHNNY: Come on, be a cod. Be a cod.
Cod!
We'll take it.
Oh, yeah.
In the bucket, he goes.
What do you say, Javs?
Is this good enough for you?
Am I doing okay?
Oh, but when the biting's good, sometimes I push my luck.
These are the cod I'm after right here.
That's what I'm looking for.
Oh, yeah.
Possibly a halibut.
Whatever it is, it's got a fight to it.
That's what I'm after right there.
That's a nice cod.
Java, you're eating good for a while buddy.
I'm on top of a nice school of cod right now.
I'm pulling them up kind of left and right.
And this is what I'm after.
This is what I've been trying to find is the school.
That's what gonna fill this bucket full of fish,
and that's what's gonna fill my dry rack
full of cod and that's what's gonna feed Java.
Another cod, I'll take it.
Here we go. We'll take 'em.
It's a nice cod.
That's what I'm after right there.
We'll keep 'em.
Another cod.
You're just unfazed by this.
You don't care unless it's time to eat.
But at this point, I got a pretty good amount.
I got about two weeks' worth.
I wanna cross the bay before it gets too rough.
To be able to live a lifestyle that I can connect with nature,
have this symbiotic relationship with,
it's just a really beautiful thing for me.
And I don't take it for granted, not one day.
CHEVIE: Thanks Sydney. SYDNEY: Welcome.
CHEVIE: Which duck is this? Do you remember?
SYDNEY: Uh, pintail?
CHEVIE: Oh, yeah. Probably.
RYDER: Thank you.
CHEVIE: There's a lot more than just hunting or just going out and getting an animal.
There's a lot of things you can learn while you're doing it.
With Sydney, she really developed as a young steward of the land so to speak.
You know she's, that's who she is.
She's, she's developed more and become more comfortable in her surroundings.
I, I'm excited about the years to come and all the fun memories
that we'll make that started with this trip.
Pretty good Sydney?
SYDNEY: Yeah.
CHEVIE: I'm gonna have some.
SONTA: Good job, Bean.
SYDNEY: Thank you.
CHEVIE: You probably scooped this one out of the water I'd imagine.
SYDNEY: Why? CHEVIE: I don't know.
You scooped a lot out of the water,
so there's a pretty good chance you scooped this one.
SYDNEY: I think it might be.
I think it might be that some of these birds like I brought in,
or I helped you get.
CHEVIE: That's pretty cool, huh? SYDNEY: Uh-huh.
CHEVIE: I think the big takeaway is to make the time for your kids to have
moments like this 'cause they're only gonna be that age once.
We get busy and life happens so fast that sometimes we don't slow down,
and it's just a reminder to take those times, those weekends,
those four or five days and really get to know your kids.
You can always look back and say I wish I would've
but it's really nice to be able to say that's what we did.
BRITTANY: Hey. KALEB: Hey.
BRITTANY: Were you successful?
KALEB: Yeah, look at that full backpack.
BRITTANY: You know what you brought with you.
KALEB: Full of meat.
BRITTANY: That's a small bear if it all fits in there.
KALEB: Yeah, well it's springtime.
They're not exactly the largest creatures this time of the year.
BRITTANY: That's true.
I guess we need to go process some meat.
KALEB: For sure.
BRITTANY: Do that. We missed you.
KALEB: I'm glad to be back too when that bear was.
BRITTANY: I bet you're whipped.
KALEB: When that bear was chasing me through the woods,
I was like I don't really like it here right now.
BRITTANY: It's much better with me?
Even when I'm chasing you out.
KALEB: Yeah, I'd rather you were chasing me through the woods.
(laughing)
BRITTANY: Hunting bear or bear hunting?
KALEB: That's a question, uh, answer that I'll keep to myself.
Love you.
BRITTANY: I love you too.
ELOVIE: Love ya.
BRITTANY: All right kids, let's go bring that inside.
KALEB: This meat here represents a lot of hard work,
a lot of effort went into this.
I will always maintain that a bad day in the woods is better than a good day in the office.
But this hunt exemplified that.
JESSI: The bok choy,
the lettuce, the onions, and me have all been waiting so long for
this exact moment.
I'm like the happiest camper, like the perfect little clam,
I'm like snug as a bug in a rug.
We are just so stoked to be here seeing all this water to come down
this super janky contraption system.
And like this is, this is why I'm out here.
They're happy little plants.
They're gonna grow nice and big.
How perfectly timed, and it's the perfect amount of water.
CHRIS: This is great.
This project came to fruition from all of the hoard that was around the cabin,
Jessi and I put our heads together, came up with a makeshift plan,
and made a functioning auto-watering garden system.
The garden box is something we needed out here.
But really, seeing my wife smile every day, that's the payoff for me.
JESSI: All the way down.
JOHNNY: So, this is kinda the end result and this'll go onto the drying rack.
This'll dry and then it'll make good dog food for Java.
What do you say, Java? Yeah, you love it.
It's a pretty good day today.
Caught a lot of fish, processed them, got Java food.
I got myself food.
It's another good day out here in Alaska, living free, eating the wild.
I honestly couldn't ask for much more.
Oh, you want a belly rub,
you could ask for more couldn't you?
You want all kinds of stuff.
You're never happy, never satisfied.
Are you, huh? Never happy.